Had the potatoes and peas, beans and snap peas, squash and cabbage from yesterday's harvest. Some dill went in the cabbage and squash. Wanted to add rosemary to potatoes and peas but was voted down. Didn't add onions and garlic to cabbage/squash hoping kids would eat them but might as well have. (In hindsight, should've harvested some carrots to add to cabbage/squash for splash of color) After dinner, chicken and pork were still left on the platter with two potatoes that nobody could eat anymore. ALL veg had disappeared.

The Chayote are selling for $US 1,2 per pound in the stores, while Cherimoya sell for $US 7 each here in South Africa. So we consider ourselves very blessed to have these from our garden. We've harvested 25 Chrimoya from our tree now and there are still about another 25 on the tree ripening.! A record bumper crop this year.! We use to get about 5 max per year, until I tried hand pollinating the flowers this year.! Working hard at it paid off handsomely.!

It's slow roasted pork butt that is then deep fried and served with flour tortillas. It comes with all kinds of topings (including some healthy sides)

and margaritas

But mostly the cheese sauce and the pickled Jalapenos that I crave. I can make the jalapenos (i only have a few that are at that size...many many more on the plant), just need to make that cheese sause.Wish I could grow avocado here, too. That would be sweet.

"The conspicuous consumption of limited resources has yet to be accepted widely as a spiritual error, or even bad manners." ~Barbara Kingsolver

Yep, Went shopping at my favorite Mexican grocery store last week. They have a grill back in the corner where they prepare carry out meals in the white styrofoam trays or a few tables where you can eat in the store. I also had tacos de carnitas with home made flour tortillas and all the sides. Better food in that little corner of Mexico than any high class Mexican restaurant in the world.

I also love to shop the Mexican grocery stores because everything seems more real in the produce area. Nothing is as pretty as it is in Walmart, but it seems to taste better. Where else can you buy avocados at six for one dollar, or fifteen large limes for one dollar, or sweet corn at six for one dollar? The list could go on but it doesn't matter because I will keep going back for the carnitas.

Never fear Lindsay if you have "many more on the plant" that means you will be overflowing with jalapenos this year. I think I'm on the same track. My Jalapenos are the best producing pepper I have so far with a dozen or more on the plant right now.

Can you say fresh Pico de Gallo?

Of course you need to wash that down with a margarita. Some Cabo and Grandma a little crushed ice and even less mix and you are golden.

I love Mexican and SUPER hot sauce too bad my wife hates anything not made from a box.

I just recycled three jalapeno and three habenero plants with peppers attached to the compost bin. I had way more than I can use since I am the only hot pepper lover in my family. I've tried to give the extras away. Most people simply say "I can't eat those things". The extra space will allow for a few more fall tomato plants.

Next year, I guess I will grow a lot more bell and other sweet peppers instead of a lot of hot peppers.

I was in my favorite Mexican grocery store last week. The lady in front of me in the checkout line had about ten pounds of those giant, hot, jalapenos. She also had a bunch of cilantro and tomatoes and limes. I asked her what she planned on doing with so many jalapenos. She said she was hosting a party that evening and preparing a hot salsa for the party. I was of course invited to the party to sample the salsa, but already had other plans. I bet that was one hot party.

My Jalapenos are the best producing pepper I have so far with a dozen or more on the plant right now.

Once I make pickled japs, I will prolly make pepper jelly with the rest of them! . It is super easy and super yummy! Ted, no one has ever turned down a jar of pepper jelly! Serve it with cream cheese and crackers...drool...

"The conspicuous consumption of limited resources has yet to be accepted widely as a spiritual error, or even bad manners." ~Barbara Kingsolver

My Jalapenos are the best producing pepper I have so far with a dozen or more on the plant right now.

Once I make pickled japs, I will prolly make pepper jelly with the rest of them! . It is super easy and super yummy! Ted, no one has ever turned down a jar of pepper jelly! Serve it with cream cheese and crackers...drool...

If you don't mind how about adding those recipes to the recipe thread down at the bottom of the main page.

We're having brocolli and brussel spouts at lunch today. Saturday I cut a few heads of cabbage and made some freezer slaw. I'll probably cut some more and make some more slaw this week. I picked the first of the green beans this weekend, but not enough for a mess yet.

Last night I made a hodge podge mixture of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, onion, fresh basil and spices some olive oil, a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar and a pad of butter wrapped in foil and bar-b-qued on the grill while I cooked some chicken.

Tonight it will be ribs fresh baby potatoes a homemade salad and maybe some fried zucchini.

I grilled out steaks and hamburgers today and decided to grill some vegetables from the garden. I mixed some green peppers, brocolli, onions, asparagus, yellow squash, zukes, garlic, a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Grilled them with the steaks, and got the smoke from the meat on the vegetables. The asparagus and garlic wasn't from our garden, but everything else was.

We had green beans cooked with butterfinger new potatoes( my taters DID tater!!!) Fried okree, fried squash and grilled chicken. A black krim tomato sliced up with some cucumbers on the side. For dessert we had cantaloupe! Everything came from the garden except the chicken. Maybe next year the chickens will too

"The conspicuous consumption of limited resources has yet to be accepted widely as a spiritual error, or even bad manners." ~Barbara Kingsolver

i'd love to learn how to make my own tofu. i love the stuff. it's great in EVERYTHING!

can you please tell me how to make pepper jelly? would love that recipe. i have THREE huge pepper plants. Not all japs but would probably work anyway?? They are tiny little green peppers right now. A LOT of them! I'll have to take a peek at the tags to see what kind they are. I think i have one jap plant but nothing showing yet.

Last night, I had grilled potatoes, grilled yellow squash and zuchinni, and grilled sirloin tip steak and T-Bone, all grown on my property... slow smoked with peach and nectarine wood........mmmmmmmmmm....I'm slobbering like Homer Simpson

The night before I had the same veggies with a fat flounder I caught in the Delaware Bay.

There is something very satisfying about growing, catching, or otherwise harvesting your own meal.

My brother is in town from Idaho. He's been crabbing in the Chesapeake all day with a friend who is a commercial crabber, so tonight it's crabs I cheated and picked up some local sweetcorn on the way home, and I'm watching some Cherokee Purples and Black Krims for a few days. I'll check the garden after the storm and feeding the cattle. I'll stop by the Orchard and see if I can find a few more ripe giant white peaches too!

I hate the heat, but love summertime!

ooops. that Black Krim never will see the dinner table.......not the best tomato I've ever eaten, but not too shabby

Garden Gal wrote:i'd love to learn how to make my own tofu. i love the stuff. it's great in EVERYTHING!

can you please tell me how to make pepper jelly? would love that recipe. i have THREE huge pepper plants. Not all japs but would probably work anyway?? They are tiny little green peppers right now. A LOT of them! I'll have to take a peek at the tags to see what kind they are. I think i have one Japanese plant but nothing showing yet.

That melon looked fantastic! Would love some seeds!

The grilled veggies . . . . mmmmmmmm my fav!

We need to start a COOKBOOK!

We called them japs for short when I worked in a restaurant while I was in xray school I guess it stuck...

I put the recipes under the recipe folder

Send an envelope I have never tasted anything like that melon... Almost like an artificial watermelon flavor. Bizaar...like cantaloupe dipped in watermelon jolly rancher syrup. Crazy good

"The conspicuous consumption of limited resources has yet to be accepted widely as a spiritual error, or even bad manners." ~Barbara Kingsolver

I was wondering about that... wouldn't you reasonably call them Jals (Hals)? Don't you know how to spell in X-ray school? ... Oh! is that related to how Dr's learn to have REALLY terrible handwriting in medical school?

This still seems to be a popular thread, so I'll add my harvest, so far. Some of you might think that my diet is strange

Early spring, I began adding violet and garlic mustard leaves to my salads. I really enjoyed some boiled maple seeds for the first time (with butter and salt). Occasionally, I munched on the young maple leaves growing all over the yard. As they became available, I added purslane and lamb's quarters to my spinach salads. The spinach lasts for such a short time in the spring. Recently, I've been trying to devour all of the lettuce and mulberries.

I've had alot of turnip greens, which I like to eat cooked with beans (canned) and chopped green onions. I pull the onion sets that have sent up scapes early. Sometimes, I cook them in the juice of frozen tomatoes from last season with garlic and ground pepper. I've done the same with the kale, which I also like raw in salads and on sandwiches. Of course, I've had turnip roots, as well. I'm not a big fan of them, but since I grow them...

Most recently, I've been enjoying cooked stinging nettle, amaranth, and the first green beans to become large enough to harvest. I had to collect the stinging nettle from elsewhere as the seeds I sowed did not produce (probably not mature enough when collected). The purslane and lamb's quarters are in unlimited supply throughout the season.

Lots more to come! I can't wait to make dill pickles.

Oh, I forgot about the black mustard greens I added to my cooked turnip greens and kale.

a Few chilies and peppers. Starting to really grow...some broccoli side shoots for a beef and broccoli dish. More strawberries and rhubarb picked today, I will make a strawberry rhubarb jam. I believe that will be it of the strawberries however. some lettuce greens, which I need to do something with. Bean plants are finally starting to grow beans. Overall though, its been a little too hot 90's 90's and upper 80's all summer so far, with high winds again returning to the upper 30mph range...annoying. But right now I can't complain too much especially after that 90mph hit we took from that tornatic thunderstorm. People are still picking and cleaning up the damage....

Seems as if the tomatoes may have gotten early / or some time of blight...so I was a little disappointed with that. They are looking very very rough, they looked so good before that storm.

We have been eating a lot of squash, tomatoes, peppers, beans, and a few other things. We may have eaten our last spring planted tomato today. It was a prudens purple and tasted great. The tomato plants have pretty much become dormant due to the heat. They will soon start putting out new growth at the tops and mid to late August will bloom again for fall tomatoes. My cucumbers also stopped producing for a couple of weeks, but have started again. The squash is nearing the end of it's life and will either start growing again or die. If it dies, I will add the plants to the compost and replant for a fall crop. I have planted my fall tomatoes grown from cuttings in two new beds along with some Swiss chard. Looking forward to finding out what Swiss chard tastes like.